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Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Record numbers attend German anti-Islamization rally

A record 17,000 anti-Islamic protesters rallied for their tenth demonstration
in as many weeks Monday in eastern Germany, celebrating the rise of their
far-right populist movement by singing Christmas carols.

Germany has for weeks grappled with the emergence of the "Patriotic
Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" or PEGIDA, whose
ranks in the city of Dresden have swelled rapidly from just a few hundred in
October.

About 4,500 counter-demonstrators marched through the city under the slogan "Dresden
Nazi-free", warning that there was no space for racism and xenophobia
in the country that perpetrated the Holocaust.

Most PEGIDA followers insist they are not Nazis but patriots who worry about
the "watering down" of their Christian-rooted culture and
traditions. They often accuse mainstream political parties of betraying them
and the media of lying.

Braving cold and wet weather, they gathered outside the historic Semperoper
concert hall for their pre-Christmas recital. Police put their numbers at
about 17,500, up from the previous high of 15,000 a week earlier.

The management of the opera house signalled its distaste by turning the
building's lights off and flying flags outside that read: "Open your
eyes", "Open your hearts", "Open doors" and "Human
dignity is sacrosanct", the first line of the national constitution.

The Protestant bishop of Saxony state, Jochen Bohl, said the PEGIDA followers,
by singing Christmas carols, were seeking "to exploit a Christian
symbol and a Christian tradition" for political purposes, German news
agency DPA reported.

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, of the centre-left Social
Democrats, called for concerned citizens to launch a "rebellion of the
decent" against the anti-foreigner movement, saying "that's the
kind of public reaction we need now".
PEGIDA, born in a city that was part of communist East Germany until the fall
of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago, has spawned copycat groups in western areas
which have failed so far to attract similar crowds.

Smaller clone groups rallied Monday in the western cities of Bonn, Kassel and
Wuerzburg, but they only drew up to 200 followers each and were all vastly
outnumbered by counter-demonstrations that drew 20,000 nationwide.

Police reported no major violence but said eight people were temporarily
detained after confrontations in Kassel, reported DPA.

The biggest anti-PEGIDA march was held in the southern city of Munich, where
at least 12,000 rallied under the banner "Make space – Refugees are
welcome".
"We have space for people of different skin colour, ethnic origin and
mother tongue," city mayor Dieter Reiter told the crowd.

"We have space for all religions and believers: for those who go to the
mosque on Fridays, who go to the synagogue on Saturdays, or to church on
Sundays, but also for those who prefer to just stay home."

Politicians from all major parties have been stunned by the emergence of the
right-wing nationalists who vent their anger against what they consider a
broken immigration and asylum system.

The movement has emerged at a time when Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has
become the continent's top destination for asylum seekers, and the world's
number two destination for migrants after the United States.

The influx of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and several African and
Balkan countries has strained local governments, which have scrambled to
house the newcomers in old schools, office blocks and army barracks.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has cautioned Germans against falling prey to any
form of xenophobic "rabble-rousing", while other lawmakers have
deplored the new "pinstriped Nazis".